Motivational Speaker Blog

Last week I was a motivational speaker for a technology and support staff conference. Walking through the hallways, I was taken aback by the tremendous spirit and engagement of delegates. Clearly, this was an industry event not to be missed. Meeting delegates came from all across the world to attend.

On August 19, 2013, I was a motivational speaker for the petroleum packaging council. One of the other guest speakers was Pat Fetterman from Infineum who gave a speech on changes in the petroleum industry.

The guest speaker opened by suggesting he was planning on retiring but before doing so he had to come give this motivational speech.

Throughout the content loaded speech, the guest speaker tore through 132 PowerPoint slides.

Some of the interesting facts mentioned in the motivational speech for the petroleum producers were...

In 1963 the world was a different place. Hardly anyone was thinking about how technology would impact the industry.

Global drivers of change in the petroleum industry include the Growth of Non traditional fuels like biofuels, synthetic fuels and more.

in the auto sector the prevalence of the automatic transmission is growing. General motors and ford are collaborating on new fuel efficient transmissions.

Fluids will go even lower viscosity as automobile manufacturers try to strike a balance between Improved fuel economy and durability.

Fuel
Worldwide fuel will consumption will add 500 million additional tonnes in next 10 years. Asia pacific will show the biggest demand. Global demand for Gasoline will flatten and much of the growth will be met with technology changes.
A Larger contribution to consumption will come from non traditional sources.

In 2011 a full 50 percent of vehicles sold were diesel. China is a world leader in automobile consumption and 50 million more vehicles will be on road by 2030.

In the global motorcycle market sales will grow 7 to 8 percent annually.
Asia will grow the most.

Harley davidson leads the north American market. Overall the Motorcycle market is Growing but profits are down. In Indonesia they hit 13 million motorcycle sales in 2012.

The guest speaker suggested Today's cars are safer with less wear and tear and better fuel economy.

In 1960 the Volkswagen Wagon beetle went from 0 to 60 in 34 seconds Today the rate is 6 seconds.

I was a motivational keynote speaker for a healthcare leadership congress where they asked me to do a follow up webinar specifically about how parents today wreck their children.

During my motivational speech, we did briefly discuss how parenting styles have changed. This set off an interesting discussion about the effects of parenting on young generation workers work attitudes and behaviors.

The audience agreed that most kids no longer have authority figures in their lives. Traditional authority figures like teachers are limited by policies and aren't able to really discipline children while parents act as friends rather then authority figures.

The other challenge is that in many households parents more often than not solve their kids problems. Parent hover over their semi adult kids lives and solve challenges large and small like erasing debt, acting as a daily alarm clock, making meals, balancing finances, and calling managers to say their offspring won't come to work.

As a result of this parenting, younger generations don't have adequate experience thinking through problem. Thus on the job they often don't take steps to remedy problems and think ahead.
Some young generation workers simply can't solve problems and have no problem solving ability.
This is a problem especially in the service industry (which employs a lot of younger workers) because customers, guests or patients often have problems, it's the nature of customer service.

What leaders find troubling is that younger generations don't take responsibility and can't grasp how a customers problems are there problem. Instead they innocently pass the buck or blankly refuse to help.

They may also see other leaders or managers ( often older professionals who remind them of their parents) as the ones who will solve the problems for them.

As a motivational keynote speaker for the healthcare congress, I suggest the audience step up and mentor and teach younger workers to solve customer problems because its their job.

Part of problem solving is learning to make decisions based on priorities. Teach gen y to make appropriate decisions by going through job scenarios and indicating this is high priority because.. and this is low priority because....

Also when hiring, ask gen y questions to determine their ability to problem solve.
Do they have the go through and Suss out appropriate problems and solutions or do they Run to their manager?
Because of Employment law leaders have to be careful careful asking questions about relationship with parents as it may be construed as discriminating. Instead look for clues. For instance if a potential candidates mother calls to confirm a job interview you know there's a problem.

When hiring you are always trying to determine this is a good candidate based on values, work habits, judgement and ethics. Skills can be taught, values are much harder to mold.

I enjoyed being a motivational keynote speaker for the healthcare leadership congress. In preparation for the webinar I will be blogging more regularily about leading younger generations.

The webinar will be loosly based on the motivational speech... Follow Me I'm Right Behind You!

Recently I gave a motivational speech for a safety conference in Ohio. After they read my introduction and called me up, I stumbled onto the stage, tripped over the microphone cord and landed on my knees. I stood up as over 1000 people stared at me with disbelief, concern and fear.

On October 1, 2013, I am a Motivational Speaker for the MetalCon Construction Show, in Atlanta,Georgia.

This event will bring thousands of construction and building industry professionals from around the USA. Everyone in the audience works with metal products in one form or another. MetalCon will attract thousands of exhibitors who sell metal products. This is a premier venue for them to reach their best clients, build relationships, do product demos and more.

As a motivational keynote speaker, I often hear that younger professionals want a lot of appreciation.

It's true that a culture of appreciation makes a difference as studies suggest that the number reason people leave their work is they feel underappreciated.

However, excessive recognition often translates to a high maintenance workforce. Ultimately, you never want to have to recognize and acknowledge people constantly.

Never ever ever recognize people for work they are supposed to do as a part of their job. Be careful about recognizing people for showing up for work on time, not being sick, even time on job can be questionable.

Never recognize mediocre work. Ever. Basics about a job need to be clearly identified and they need to be documented and communicated.

Only recognize going above and beyond. so you have to define this.

Entitlement comes when you build in bonus structures, prizes and perks for work. Doesn't mean bonuses doesn't work, they are very motivating.... but begs the question if you can perform to this level why don't you all the time?

Basics of recognition....best recognition comes in unexpected ways.....
Td bank
Way we recognize people expected ways...

Organizations have formal recognition ceremonies call certain winners up like...
employee of month, service star to room give them bonus some sort.
Problem.....
Create competition
It's a team effort
Recognizes work supposed to do

Best recognition has 4 qualities
Unexpected recognition... simple thank you note, catch em in the act, colleagues enter coworkers name into draw. Someone wins every month.
Point systems I like. Earn points for above and beyond behavior that you can use to get extra day off...
Spontaneous pizza party winner,